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Original Livestream
Original Livestream (sometimes still referred to as just Livestream) was an online live streaming video platform that allowed users to view and broadcast video content using a camera and computer through the internet. It offered a free ad-supported service as well as multi-tiered premium services. Since September 2009, it offered channel pages to stream events, with integrated chat and social capabilities. It has been used for concerts, major political events, and IRL local news affiliates, outside of its once-ubiquitous use in the Robloxian television industry. Original Livestream was shut down on July 9, 2018; all channels which did not migrate to other broadcast platforms were no longer available after this date. Overview History Livestream launched as Mogulus in 2007, and was created by Max Haot, Dayananda Nanjundappa, Phil Worthington, and Mark Kornfilt. The company has offices in New York City, Los Angeles, and Bangalore. Livestream launched its Pro premium service in April 2008. In September 2009, Mogulus was rebranded as Livestream. Services Livestream was both a virtual television studio and embeddable video player, offering users the opportunity to produce and broadcast Web video in the manner of a television network. Users would be able to stream live video or broadcast pre-recorded video in their channels, utilizing multiple cameras and on-screen graphics. Users could also collaborate with other producers anywhere in the world. Limitations In 2013, Livestream changed its format to a more events-based service, completely redesigning its format and abandoning the TV channel-style setup. Before the service's closure in July 2018, new accounts could still be created on what was then called "Original Livestream" via a particular link directly, and "New Livestream" accounts could also be created. Use in Robloxian television Original Livestream was used heavily throughout the Robloxian television industry for many years; it was popular in part due to the format of its broadcasting backend, Livestream Studio, which functions very similarly to the playout control room of a television channel. Programming and clips can be cued, overlays and bugs placed, and various graphical elements can be designed and inserted into the broadcast. Additionally, an autopilot feature is available for such things as off-air loops. rTV Networks tested the usage of the autopilot as the main method of broadcast for a channel, starting with its premium channel rTV2, although the first channel that successfully used autopilot as its main broadcast method was Lava Lamp Entertainment's Cartoon Everything (followed by rTV2's sister channel, rTV3). Every major company in the Robloxian television industry, as well as most small and midsize companies, has used the Original Livestream platform at one point or another for one or more of their channels. This includes rTV Networks, Roblox Networks Television, and the DragonDipperBlossom/Dipper Fresh Studios/Hexahedron Media Networks channels, among others. Gavent Networks formerly used Ustream, but later switched to Original Livestream. The defunct company TamatedRNetworks also used Original Livestream for its channels, TRN and the proposed TRN2. RoTV's canceled roChannels were also slated to use the platform. Due to its widespread usage, Original Livestream was supported by all of the Robloxian premium television services which were available at the time. These services supported the platform from their respective launches, but roTV, due to launching several months before the rise of competitors, technically supported the platform first. Discontinuation Planned obsolescence On July 25, 2017, it was announced that support for Adobe Flash Player would be discontinued by both Adobe and most browsers by the end of 2020. The Original Livestream platform is run on Adobe Flash Player; therefore once Flash Player support is discontinued, Original Livestream will be essentially rendered unusable, as Livestream has no plans to further development of the Original Livestream platform to protect it from this change. After hearing the news, the Robloxian Television Networks Group started discussions with many members of the industry to find ways to "future-proof" Robloxian television (a goal which has been desirable since the and the end of company support for Original Livestream). Platform closure On April 4, 2018, Livestream sent an email to all users of Original Livestream stating that Original Livestream would be shutting down on July 9, 2018. This had serious implications for much of the industry, which still used the platform for most channels. Over the following months, the industry focused its efforts on researching and developing successor technologies and methods to continue Robloxian television broadcasts following the closure of Original Livestream, in a movement which was dubbed the "HD Switchover" by the RTNG. Original Livestream channels still ran on July 9 if the channel had been loaded into the browser's cache ahead of time; however, the service was no longer accessible, with embedded players reading "This channel is no longer available on Livestream". The word "Livestream" in the text linked to the New Livestream website.Category:Streaming service